Mahmood Mamdani facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mahmood Mamdani
Mamdani in 2021
20th Director of Makerere Institute of Social Research
In office June 2010 – February 2022
Preceded by	Nakanyike Musisi
Succeeded by	Lyn Ossome
Director of the Institute of African Studies at Columbia University
In office 1999–2004
Preceded by	George Clement Bond
Succeeded by	Mamadou Diouf
Personal details
Born	(1946-04-23) 23 April 1946 (age 79) Bombay, British India
Citizenship	Uganda
Spouse	Mira Nair ​ (m. 1991)​
Children	Zohran Mamdani
Education	University of Pittsburgh (BA) Tufts University (MA) Harvard University (PhD)
Awards	Herskovits Prize (1997) Lenfest Award (2011)

Mahmood Mamdani (born April 23, 1946) is a well-known professor, writer, and expert on politics from Uganda. He teaches about government, anthropology, and African studies at Columbia University in New York City. He is also the chancellor of Kampala International University in Uganda.

For many years, he was the director of the Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR) in Uganda's capital, Kampala. Mamdani is an expert in African politics, the history of colonialism (when European countries ruled over others), and what happened after these countries became independent.

Early Life and Schooling

Mahmood Mamdani was born in Bombay (now Mumbai), India, in 1946. At that time, India was still under British rule. He grew up in Kampala, Uganda. His parents were from a part of Africa that is now Tanzania.

When Mamdani was a child, Uganda was racially segregated. This means people of different races had to live in separate areas and go to different schools. He first went to a madrasa (an Islamic school) and then to a government school for Indian children. He grew up speaking Gujarati, Urdu, and Swahili, and learned English in school.

In 1963, Mamdani received a special scholarship called the Kennedy Airlift. This program helped students from East Africa study at universities in the United States. He went to the University of Pittsburgh and earned a degree in political science.

While in the U.S., he joined the civil rights movement to fight for equal rights for African Americans. In 1965, he was arrested during a protest march. He called the Ugandan ambassador for help, who asked why he was getting involved in another country's problems. Mamdani replied that it was a fight for freedom, just like Uganda's own fight for independence.

After Pittsburgh, he studied at Tufts University and later earned his PhD (a high-level university degree) from Harvard University. His final research paper was about politics and social groups in Uganda.

Career as a Professor and Writer

Mamdani returned to Uganda in 1972 to work at Makerere University. However, the country's dictator, Idi Amin, expelled all people of Asian descent from Uganda that same year. Mamdani had to leave and went to a refugee camp in the United Kingdom.

From there, he moved to Tanzania and taught at the University of Dar es Salaam. He also worked with groups that were against Idi Amin's rule. When Amin was removed from power in 1979, Mamdani returned to Uganda.

In the 1980s, the new government under Milton Obote took away his Ugandan citizenship because he criticized its policies. This made him stateless, meaning he had no country. He went back to Tanzania and also taught at the University of Michigan. He was able to return to Uganda again in 1986 after Obote's government fell.

Over the years, Mamdani has taught at many famous universities, including the University of Cape Town in South Africa and Princeton University in the U.S. In 2008, he was voted one of the top 10 public intellectuals in the world by Prospect and Foreign Policy magazines.

Important Ideas and Books

Mamdani studies African politics, colonialism, and how knowledge is created and shared. His work often looks at the connection between politics and culture.

Citizen and Subject

One of his most famous books is Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Colonialism. In this book, he argued that to understand modern African countries, you have to understand how they were ruled as colonies.

He explained that colonial governments created a "Bifurcated State," which means a state split in two.

• Direct Rule: In the cities, there was one set of laws for European settlers, who were treated as citizens with rights.
• Indirect Rule: In the countryside, a different system was used for native Africans. Traditional chiefs were used to enforce colonial laws. This system was often harsh and did not give people the same rights as citizens.

Mamdani argued that after independence, many African countries kept parts of this divided system. This has sometimes led to problems and conflict.

Understanding Political Violence

In his 2004 book Good Muslim, Bad Muslim, Mamdani discussed the roots of modern terrorism. He argued that to understand political violence, people need to study its causes and history, rather than just calling it evil or barbaric. He believes that understanding the political reasons behind violence is key to finding solutions.

Personal Life

Mamdani is married to Mira Nair, a famous film director from India. They met in Uganda in 1989 and married in 1991. They live in New York City and have a son named Zohran Mamdani.

Zohran is a politician and a member of the New York State Assembly. He represents a district in Queens, New York City.

Honours and Awards

Awards

• 1997: Herskovits Prize for his book Citizen and Subject
• 1999: University of Cape Town Book Award for Citizen and Subject
• 2009: GDS Eminent Scholar Award from the International Studies Association
• 2011: Lenfest Distinguished Faculty Award
• 2012: Scholar of the Year at the 2nd Annual African Diaspora Awards
• 2012: Ugandan Diaspora Award 2012

In 2017, Mamdani was elected a Fellow of the British Academy, the UK's national organization for humanities and social sciences.

Honorary Degrees

• University of Johannesburg (2010)
• Addis Ababa University (2010)
• University of KwaZulu-Natal (2012)

See also

• Indians in the New York City metropolitan area